Wire reel



Feb;- 12 1924.A 1,483,766

D. B. BEAvl-:Rs ET AL -WIRE REEL Filed Dec. 23, 1921 2 sheets-sheet 1 Feb. 1'2 v1924.

D. B. EAvERsl ET AL WIRE REEL Filed Dec. 25, 1921 2.She`er.s- Sheet 2 5601/3/45 |NvENToR Patented 1T eb. 12, 1924.

UNITED STATES DALB/IDGE B. BEAVERS AND PATRICK D.

COLUMBIA.

insges PATENT yorales.

WIRE REEL.

.Application filed December 23, 1921. Serial No. 524,474;

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that DALRIDGE B. BEAvERs and PATRICK D. BEAvERs, lcitizens of the United States, residing at lashington, in

the District of Columbia, have invented. new and useful Improvements in Wire Reels, of which the following isv a specifica-tion.

Our said invention is designed more particularly as an improvement on the wire ieel disclosed in the contemporary application of Dalridge B. Beavers, filed September 21, 1921, Serial Number 502,213, and in common with the invention of said application, the present invention has for one of its objects to provide a reel constructed to handle coils of wire, more particularlyl crossconnecting or jumper wires in telephone central oflice terminal rooms, the present invention being quick acting for the expeditious expansion of the reelin a wire coil and for the ready contraction of the reel for the removal of the coil and the mounting on the reel of a fresh coil.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of means in a,v reel toadapt the same for use in a coil of wire the borey or central opening of which is of conical or taper form.

To the attainment of the foregoing and other objects hereinafter developed, the invention consists in theimprovement as hereinafter described and definitely claimed.

` In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specicationz- I Figure 1 is a side elevation of our improved reel.

Figure 2 is a top plan of the same; Figure 8- is an enlarged cross section taken in the plane indicated by the line 3--3 of Figure 2. 1

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail crossl section taken on the line @-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail cross section showing the connectiony of the reel blades to one of the heads of the reel.

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail longitudinal section taken on the line 6*-6 'of Figure 2.

Figure 7 is a detail longitudinal section on an enlarged scale showing modified retract* ing means. p

rFigurev 8 is an enlarged detail' fragmentary perspective showing the construction of reelblades designed more especially for use in coils of wire with conical or tapered central openings.

Figure 9 is a detail edge elevation at right angles to Figure 8'. f

Similar numerals designate corresponding parts in Figures 1 to 6 to which reference' will first. be made.

Among other elements our improved reel comprises a bracket or frame, designed tobe associated with any appropriate support (not shown). The said bracket or frame r includes longitudinal bars 1k in spaced and' parallel relation, end bars 2 and 3and intermediate cross bars 4 and 5.` Mounted in the rear portion of the said bars 1 is a transverse bolt 6 secu-red in position by nuts 7, and mounted on the saidlbolt 6 is a circumferentially groovedf wheel 8` to `which is liXed a spur gearv 9, said wheel and gear being preferably formed in one piece to rotate as. a unit about the bolt or shaft 6. Coiled above the bolt or shaft 6 is a torsional spring 10, one endof which is connected at 11 to one bar 1 andthe other end of which is connected at 12, Figures' 3 and 6, to the gear 9. Manifestly when the spur gear 9 is rotated in one direction the spring 10 will be put under tension, and `when the said spur gear is released the said' spring will operate to powerfully rotate the spur gear in the opposite direction. For the convenient turning of the wheel 8 in order to tension the spring 10 we provide the cable 12 seated in the circumferential groove of the wheel 8, and connected at 13 the-reto, and passed through a guide opening 14 in anarm 15 on a sub1-bracket 16 carried by one of the frame bars 1. The said guide serves to retain the cablel 12l on the wheel 8.

andl against casual displacement, and in this the guide is assisted by a coiled spring 17,

Figure 1, arranged about the extendedr por'-,

tion of the cable 12 and, interposed between the arm 15 and the handle 18 on the cable.

Freely movable through the frame bars 2', 5, l and 3 kis a longitudinally movable plu-nger rod 19 onwhich is fixed a collar or abutment 20. The saidrod 19' is toothed for a portion of its length as designated by 21, andgis provided at its". forward end with a circular hub or disk 22, the saidy disk v22 being circumferentially grooved at" 23 to' seat' a wire 24:, 7Figure 5, throughrthe medium of: which the forward ends ofthe reel blades are preferably connected in pivotal manner to the head or hub 22, Other reel blades 26, Figure 1, are pivotally connected to the blades 25 at 27, and are pivotally connected at their rear ends and in the manner specifically described with reference to Figure 5, to a head or hub 28, which latter is connected in iixed manner to a sleeve 29, journaled in the box provided between the frame-bars 4 and 3. Surrounding the rod 19 and interposed between the forward end of the said sleeve 29 and the rear side of the forward head or hub 22 is a coiled expansion spring' 31. The said spring 31 tends to move the head or hub 22 and the rod 19 forwardly, and therefore itsfunction is to quickly contract the reel or reduce the same to the state shown by full lines in Figures 1 and 2 so as to permit of a coil of wire being readily placed on the reel blades. When the plunger rod 19 is retracted against the action of the spring 31, the blades 25 and 26 of the reel will be expanded so as to firmly bind the coil of wire, represented by dotted lines in Figures 1 and 2, on the reel blades, the said blades being crowded against the wall of the central opening through the coil of wire. For the said retraction of the plunger rod 19 we provide the rack bar 32, intermeshed with the support gear 9 and carried by a sleeve 33 which loosely receives the plunger rod 19 and is designed to act rearwardly against the collar or abutment 20v thereon. In order to prevent both the plunger rod 19 and the rack bar from moving about a common axis we provide the longitudinal guide rod 34 interposed between and carried. by the frame bars 2 and 5. In order to lessen noise in operation we prefer to employ soft washers 35 and 36 on the plunger rod 19 back of and in front of the sleeve 33, respectively.

After the plunger rod 19 is retracted as described to expand the reel blades 25 and 26 dit is necessary to detachably secure the plunger rod 19 in its retracted position in order to retain the reel blades in the expanded position. For this purpose we employ the detent best shown in Figure 4, the said detent being movable rectilinearly in a housing 41 iiXed to the frame bar 5, and being provided with an appropriate handle 42 and backed by a spring 43, the said spring tending to .yieldingly hold the inner end of the detent 40 in engagement with the toothed portion 21 of the plunger rod 19 and the said inner end being shaped as shown to i conform to the character of teeth illustrated.

from said blades. llhen a coil of wire is placed on the contracted blades 25 and 26 and it is desired to expand the blades to enable the same to engage and securely hold the coil of wire, it is simply necessary for the operator to strongly pull on the handle 18 in the direction indicated by arrow in Figure 1 when by the rotation of the wheel 8 and the gear 9 and the retraction of the rack bar 32 and sleeve 33, the plunger rod 19 will be retracted, the latter being due to the action of the rack bar sleeve 33 against the abutment or colla-r 2O on the plunger rod 19. At this point it will be noticed that the abutment or collar 20 is provided with an eye, to receive the rod 34 to prevent turning of the plunger rod 19. llVhen the plunger rod 19 is retracted and the spring 31 is put under tension, the teeth 21 of the plunger rod will ride idly past the detent 40. When, however, the pull on the handle 18 in the direction indicated is stopped, the detent by engaging one of the teeth 21 will strongly hold the plunger rod 19 against forward movement and in that way will maintain the reel blades 25 and 26 in an expanded position. When it is desired to bring about contraction of the reel blades 25 and 26 under the action of the spring 31 it is simply necessary for the operator to draw on the detenty handle 42 in the direction indicated byarrow in Figure 1 when the detent will be disengaged from the teeth of the rod 19, and the said rod will be left free for forward movement. Manifestly when the detent 40 is disengaged from the teeth 21 as indicated the contraction of the reel blades 25 and 26 will be quickly effected, the same attending the quick expansion of the spring 31. Y

In Figure 7 weillustrate a modified means for retracting the rack bar 3a. The said means includes a handle 18aL on which is a sector gear 9a, the latter being intermeshed with the teeth of therack bar, and being connected to one end 12a of a torsion spring 10a', the opposite end 11a of which is connected to the frame.

The described retraction of the rack bar 32 or 3n tensions the' spring 10 or 10a which serves on the release of the handle to move the rack bar forwardly so that the said rack bar will not interfere with the subsequent movement of the plunger rod l19 when the detent 40 is disengaged therefrom.

lVhen coils of wire with central openings of cone formation are to be handled we prefer to employ reel blades 25aL and 26a such as shown in Figures 8 and 9, the said blades 25a and 26a being coupled by a double clip 60 the members of'which are pivoted on a pintle 63, Figure 9, and through which each of the blades 25a and 26a is slidable in the direction of its length. lVe also provide between the arms of the blades 25a and 26a pivoted linksv one of' which is shown by full lines inFigure `8 and designated by 6l. Manifestly when blades such as 25a and 26a connected to the hubs or heads 22 and 28 are expanded, the links 61 complementary to each pair of blades 25a and 26a will assume the inclined position shown by such lines in FigureB so as to coliform to and snugly lit the wall of ay conical opening in a coil of wire. `The link 6l is notched at 64 to receive the pintle 63 when the blades are in parallelism as when the reel is collapsed.

The link 61X shown by dotted lines in Figure 8 is used interchangeably with respect to the link 61, said link 6lX being employed when a coil of wire with a central opening of even diameter is to be supported.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that notwithstanding the facility with which our novel reel can be manipulated, the reel as a whole is simple and inexpensive in construction and is well adapted to v withstand the rough usage to which devices of corresponding character are ordinarily subjected. It will be also apparent from the foregoing that the carrying means of the reel formed by the hubs and blades is freely rotatable with the sleeve 29 about the center formed by the plunger rod 19, and this notwithstanding said carrying means is contracted or expanded. It will be noticed, however, that when the carrying means is expanded and the spring 31 is under tension, the said spring will operate after the manner of a brake to prevent too free rotation of the carryino' means.

The construction illustrated and described has been reduced to actual practice and has been successfully operated, and we therefore prefer the said construction with all of the details described. 7e do not desire, however, to be understood as confining ourselves to the specific construction and relative arrangement of the elements as in the further practice of the invention such changes or modifications may be made as fairly fall within the sco e of our invention as defined in our appenc ed claims.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

l. The combination in a reel, of coil carrying means capable of expansion and contraction, a frame, a toothed plunger rod movable lengthwise in the frame and connected to a part of the carrying means and supporting vsaidy means, a spring on the rod and bearing against said part, and a detent to detachably hold the plunger rod in retracted position.

2. The combination in a reel, of coil carrying means capable of expansion and contraction, a frame, a toothed plunger rod movable lengthwise in the frame and connected to a part of the carrying means and supporting said means, a spring on the rod and bearing against said part, a deter-1t to detachably hold the plunger rod in retracted position, a movable member arranged to act against an abutment on and retract the plunger rod, and means `operable by an attendant tomove said movable member. c

3. The combination in a reel, of coil carrying means capable of expansion 'and contraction, a frame, a toothed plunger rod movable lengthwise in the frame and connected to a part of the carrying means and supporting said means, a spring on the rod and bearing against said part, a detent to detachably hold the plunger rod in retracted position, a movable rack arranged to act against an abutment on and retract the plunger rod, and a gear intermeshed with said rack and operable by an attendant.

4. The combination in a reel, of coil carrying means capable of 'expansion and contraction, a frame, a toothed plunger rod movable lengthwise in the frame and connected to a part of the carrying means and supporting said means, a spring on the rod and bearing against said part, a detent to detachably hold the plunger rod in retracted position, a movable member arranged to act against an abutment on and retract the plunger rod, the rod movable through said member, and means operable by an attendant to move said movable member.

5. The combination in a reel, of coil carrying means capable of expansion and contraction, a frame, a toothed plunger rod movable lengthwise in the frame and connected to a part of the carrying means and supporting said means, a spring on the rod and bearing against said part, a detent to detachably hold the plunger rod in retracted position, a movable rack arranged to act against an abutment on and retract the plunger rod, a gear `intermeshed with said rack, and a handle for moving said gear.

6. The combination in a reel, of coil carrying means capable of expansion and contraction, a frame, a toothed plunger rod movable lengthwise in the frame and connected to a part of the carrying means and supporting said means, a spring on the rod and bearing against Said part, and a detent to detachably hold the plunger rod in retracted position; the said carrying means being also rotatable about the rod, and the spring serving when tensioned to exert a braking action on the carrying means.

7. In a reel, the combination of coil carrying means capable of expansion and contraction, a frame, a toothed plunger rod connected to `and supporting the carrying mean s, a spring tending to contract the i carrying means, a detent to detachably hold the rod in retracted position, a movable rack to retract the rod, `a gear intermeshed with the rack, a handle 'connected to said gear, and a spring to restore said gear to normal position.

8. In a reel, the combination of coil carrying means capable of expansion and contraction, a frame, a toothed plunger rod connected to and supporting the carrying means, a spring tending to contract the carrying means, a detent to detachably hold the rod in retracted position, a movable rack to retract the rod, a gear intermeshed With the rack, a Wheel lixedto the geaig'a cable on said Wheel, means to guide said cable, and a handle on the cable.

In testimony whereof We ax our signatures.

' DALRIDGE B. BEAVERS.

PATRICK D. BEAVERS. 

